By Joe Bukuras
CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2023 / 12:00 pm
A New York pro-life pregnancy center that was seriously damaged in an arson attack in June 2022 and was subsequently vandalized again with pro-abortion graffiti in March, has filed a federal lawsuit against two “known pro-abortion activists.”
Two unnamed defendants are included in the Oct. 5 lawsuit and referred to as John Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 because authorities have yet to publicly identify the suspects. The suit alleges they were involved in the arson attack last year.
Jim Harden, CEO of the pregnancy center and plaintiff CompassCare Pregnancy Services, said in a statement about the suit: “It is ridiculous that as pro-life citizens we are forced to do the job of both the FBI and DOJ.”
“The FBI refused to investigate so we hired private investigators. The DOJ refuses to indict, so we brought FACE charges,” Harden said Oct. 10.
CompassCare in Amherst, New York, filed the lawsuit Thursday under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years by some lawmakers and pro-life activists for the government’s disproportionate use of it against pro-life activists.
Eight pro-life activists were convicted of FACE Act charges in the past three months alone.
The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”
‘Liars’
One of the named defendants in CompassCare’s suit is 40-year-old Hannah Kamke, a woman who was arrested in March of this year and charged with a felony for spray-painting the word “liars” in red capital letters across the center’s sign at its 1230 Eggert Rd. location.
Kamke, who was caught on video vandalizing the sign, entered a plea agreement in March, agreeing to pay $2,580 in restitution in addition to being ordered to stay away from the clinic, The Buffalo News reported.
The federal government hasn’t brought criminal FACE Act charges against Kamke. CNA asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of New York on Wednesday for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
A series of violent protests
The other named defendant in the suit is Jennifer Page, 39, who the complaint says is also known as “Jennifer L. Clark” and “Queen City Feminist.”
The suit says that on several occasions, Page organized protests against the clinic where assaults on pro-life activists, First Amendment violations, and theft took place.
On one occasion, Page allegedly organized a counterprotest to the clinic’s “Walk for Life,” which is a pro-life fundraising and advocacy event where participants walk around local landmarks with pro-life signs.
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The suit says that Page blocked a public highway “in order to prevent pro-life citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights, and to threaten and intimidate patients, employees, prospective patients, and supporters of CompassCare from working at, seeking services from, or supporting CompassCare.”
Certain “co-conspirators” of Page’s assaulted walkers and law enforcement, the suit says.
“Page’s co-conspirators hit a police officer with a bullhorn, punched [a] CompassCare supporter, placed nails and glass in a public walkway (injuring at least one person), and graffitied lewd, vulgar, threatening messages on the sidewalk,” the suit says.
The complaint also says that Page organized protests against the Amherst facility on two other occasions after the walk, which included “trespassing on the property and writing graffiti in the driveway of the facility, thereby blocking the entrance to the facility’s parking lot and intending to deter, and in fact deterring, staff, volunteers, and patients from entering the facility.”
In another incident, the suit alleges that Page trespassed onto the Amherst facility and stole a sign deterring trespassing.
The suit says that Page was arrested and charged by the Amherst police with theft.
After Page was arrested, she provided the police with information regarding two participants who were involved in the 2022 arson attack at the clinic, the suit says.
Those two “Doe” defendants are responsible for writing “Jane was here” on the clinic during the arson, the suit says.
“Jane’s Revenge,” or alterations of it, such as “Jane was here,” became a calling card of sorts for dozens of pro-abortion vandals after the May 2022 leak from the Supreme Court indicated that the justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Roe was overturned that June, but the term continued to pop up in places where pro-life facilities had been vandalized such as the attack on a pro-life pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio, in April.
CompassCare’s requests
As part of the suit, CompassCare is asking that the defendants be prohibited from going within 100 feet of any pro-life pregnancy center in the state of New York.
Additionally, it is asking for a judgment against the defendants proportionate to the compensatory and punitive damages that are “yet to be determined.”
CompassCare is also asking to be awarded compensation for legal fees. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, sitting in Buffalo, has been assigned the case.
On Tuesday, the FBI’s Buffalo office told CNA that the bureau is investigating the CompassCare arson that occurred in June 2022.
“The FBI continues to investigate a series of attacks and threats targeting pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, and reproductive health clinics across the country, as well as to judicial buildings, including the U.S. Supreme Court,” the bureau said in a statement.
“In general, FBI field offices conduct all logical investigative steps during the course of the investigation, which can include offering a reward for information,” the statement said.
“In this case, FBI Buffalo is seeking the public’s help to identify the individuals responsible for the arson of the CompassCare Pregnancy Services Center and is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for the arson,” the statement said.
